Starting the week of Sept. 24, the American Heart Association will be launching a year-round Industrial Athlete campaign for construction workers at Intel’s massive job site in Hillsboro.
The Industrial Athlete campaign is focused on improving the health of the construction industry, which is disproportionately affected by heart disease and stroke. The program focuses on the habits found within the construction industry that increase risk for heart disease, including: sugar-sweetened beverages (soda, Gatorade, energy drinks, coffee), physical inactivity, sleep deprivation (long commutes, odd hours), poor nutrition (food choices offered on job sites and in vending machines), tobacco (smoking, vaping, and chewing) and stress (long hours, quick deadlines, physically demanding).
“We talk a lot about job safety issues, but not a lot about personal health,” said Bart Dickson, president of On Electric Group, one of the largest union electrical contractors in the Northwest. Dickson spoke at the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council convention last month in Sunriver.
“We will combine our expertise and resources over the next year to empower construction workers to better health, while providing engaging education, innovative and impactful awareness messaging, and actionable steps to measure and improve health,” Jana Boyle, senior business development director of the American Heart Association in Portland, told the Labor Press.
Additional Industrial Athlete programs will be launching this fall throughout the Portland metro area.
